100 Words: Avatar
by Quaggy
Summary: 100 word drabbles from a variety of prompts. Mainly post-series Katara/Zuko.
1. Needs

Title: Needs  
Original Published: May 31, 2009  
Word Count: 100  


* * *

The message was simple: _"I know where she is. Please come." _

For an endless moment, you're frozen in empathy.

"He doesn't know if she's alive," you hear yourself tell Sokka as he tugs the letter from your unresisting fingers.

"He doesn't say that. How do you know?"

You shake your head. You can't really explain it. You just do.

"If you hurry, you can leave with the airship," Sokka suggests, instantly understanding that you can't get there fast enough.

He needs you there like he needs the sun's heat and, truthfully, you need to be with him just as desperately. 


	2. Vulnerable

Title: Vulnerable  
Original Published: May 31, 2009  
Word Count: 100

* * *

He was the one she didn't have to worry about hurting.

They were evenly matched in wits and skills. So in a fight, she'd really let herself go (whether with words or bending) knowing she wouldn't leave lasting damage.

He was so strong, he didn't need her mothering. So she allowed herself to lean on him when her burdens grew too great.

But then she discovered that his heart was hers for the taking—giving her the power to destroy him. So she did the only thing she could to prevent that...

She trusted him with her heart in return.


	3. The Winter of His Discontent

Title: The Winter of His Discontent  
Original Published: Jan. 15, 2010  
Word Count: 100  
Prompt: Winter

* * *

Winters are warm and mild in the Fire Nation. His favorite time of year. Or it should be.

He doesn't know why he feels so strange. (Except he does.) He's uneasy and can't shake the feeling that something's missing. (Because she is.)

By day, he's the same Fire Lord who led his country into five years of peace and prosperity. No one would guess that anything's wrong.

At night, he rereads her letters (apparently the only contact she'll allow in this strange courtship) until he can no longer force his eyes to stay open.

He dreams of ice and snow. 


	4. After A Different Crossroads

Title: After A Different Crossroads  
Original Published: March 26, 2011  
Word Count: 100  
Prompt: Alternate Universe  
Notes: Post-ep for Crossroads of Destiny... with a slight change.

* * *

"So then Slowpoke here finally showed up and we overpowered them," Katara explained.

"Hey, I came as fast as I could! It took a while to bust my uncle out of all that crystal," the young stranger objected.

"I guess it wasn't made out of rock candy, then."

"What kind of crazy idiot would use rock candy to imprison someone?"

"Okay, hold it!" Sokka finally bellowed. "There is a critical piece of information you're leaving out here."

"What's that, Sokka?"

"Who IS this guy?" Sokka asked pointing to Katara's new companion.

"Ummm... Hello. Zuko here," the scar-less boy replied awkwardly.


	5. As Time Goes By

Title: As Time Goes By  
Original Published: March 26, 2011  
Word Count: 200  
Prompt: Change

* * *

Her memory didn't fail her as she got older. It decided to start making things up.

While Aang and Sokka worried, he and his stupid ponytail were there giving her practical last minute advice on how to face Pakku, having had firsthand experience dueling a bending master.

When she collapsed after defeating Hama, he's the one that picked her up again because he's the only one that understood what it's like.

He's there making fun of Sokka's fake beard. Chasing after the specter of his mother in the swamp. Keeping an eye on Aang in the desert.

She knows that none of these memories actually happened, but she feels like they are true. And that scares her.

When she finally tells him, he carefully sets down his tea. (He's become more and more like his uncle every year. His scar, now faded with time, will soon be the only thing that differentiates him.)

"Sometimes, when I think about the days after I was burnt, I'd swear that you're there with me" is all he says.

And suddenly it makes sense. For sixty years, she has never had to face anything painful without her partner nearby. Not even in her memories.


	6. If At First You Don't Succeed

Title: If At First You Don't Succeed...  
Original Published: March 26, 2011  
Word Count: 200  
Prompt: Lick  
Notes: Yeah, don't ask me how I got this from the prompt "lick". I blame Sokka.

* * *

"What happened to you? You're soaked!"

"Thank you, Sokka. I already knew that."

"Appa lick you again?"

"No. Katara—"

"Katara licked you? You think you'd be used to it by now."

"I wish."

"What?"

"Nothing. She didn't lick— She didn't beat me. We weren't sparring, Sokka."

"Then why?"

"I got her angry."

"I thought you were getting better at that!"

"So did I."

"So what happened?"

"She didn't believe me."

"About what?"

"I asked her to marry me. She thought I was trying to make her feel better."

"Because the whole thing about Aang and the girl from—"

"Yeah."

"You don't ask someone to marry you just because she's feeling a little down that her ex is getting married first."

"Well,_ I _know that, but tell her! I didn't even know that Aang was getting married!"

"It happened really fast."

"Yeah, what was up that?"

"Well..."

"Forget it. It's better if I don't know."

"Don't worry. We'll fix this."

"We will?"

"Of course, we will! Man, this turned out great! You'll make a much better brother-in-law than Aang!"

"Yes, because I'm doing this for you."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Yeah. Apparently I _am _that desperate."


	7. Watershed

Title: Watershed  
Original Published: April 3, 2011  
Word Count: 100  
Prompt: Crossover

* * *

Let it never be said that Zuko gave up easy. He was going to regain his honor and nothing distracted him from that task. Not his uncle. Not... somebody else. Not even his own conscience.

He stubbornly clung to the idea of what he lost until, at long last, he realized he was clutching to nothing but air and their words all came crashing back on him.

He finally had to admit he was on the wrong side. It was time to crossover. Time and past.

(The only remaining question was if she would forgive him for taking so long.)


	8. Eye of the Storm

Title: Eye of the Storm  
Original Published: April 3, 2011  
Word Count: 100  
Prompt: Storm

* * *

With the West Gate secured, they raced back towards the docks where Aang and the Four Nation army was still fighting insurgents. Their shortcut through the palace was carefully chosen, because it went right past the fountains for the kitchen. While Katara refilled her water-skins, Zuko dipped a nearby silver ewer into water and drank straight out of it. Then Katara had her turn as Zuko kept the bottom of the heavy pitcher steady. When she had finished, husband and wife rested their heads together for a moment, the pitcher still between them. And then they headed back into battle.


	9. You Can't Pick Your Family

Title: You Can't Pick Your Family  
Original Published: April 3, 2011  
Word Count: 100  
Prompt: Family

* * *

"I'm sorry, but the ceremony's for family only," Hakoda explained.

"Zuko doesn't count! He's not just some friend," Katara objected.

"Katara, rules are rules. I know that you've gone through a lot together, during the war and after. But that doesn't make him family."

"It does to me!"

"Dad, just let it go," Sokka advised quietly after his sister had stormed off. "You know how close they are. You keep telling Katara that she can't bring Zuko along to something this important, she might just marry the guy to make sure that she can."

"That's what I'm hoping," Hakoda smiled.


	10. StarCrossed

Title: Star-Crossed  
Original Published: April 3, 2011  
Word Count: 100  
Prompt: Mythology  
Notes: Inspired by the Japanese Tanabata Festival and the Chinese Qixi Festival. And by the legend of the Princess and the Cowherd that both festivals celebrate.

* * *

As a child, he never cared about the legend behind the Star Festival. He was far more interested in the booths and the food and deciding what he was going to wish for.

This year, however, he knows what he's writing on that small scrap of paper and he can't stop thinking about the two lovers who are only allowed to meet once every year when the sun was shining.

But the weather wasn't cooperating. Everyone was lamenting that the lovers would be unable to meet until next year.

"It doesn't matter," he muttered to himself. "She likes the rain."


End file.
